Entering the bathroom now, and there is a sink and mirror, as in all bathrooms. I head inside. Standard sink and mirror setup. Getting a closer look at my face in the mirror, I confirm it’s the same one I saw in the vision.

My eyes are open now—shiny golden eyes. And thankfully, it’s still a pretty human face. Actually, it’s very attractive by Earth standards.

“Not bad, not bad at all,” I mutter to my reflection. I run my hands over my face.

So this is Val. If I’d had this face back on Earth, I could have totally been a pop star. I even look young again.

There’s a shower! I turn on the water and stick my hand in it. Still can’t feel any temperature difference on my skin.

Guess my body’s a perfect temperature suit. There goes freezing and burning to death as options…

Finding nothing useful in the bathroom, I head back to the lab behind the painting. This time, all the lights are on, and everything is much clearer than the black-and-white version I saw before. The table I was on is in the middle of the room, surrounded by machines wrecked in the explosion.

There’s a pile of dust in the corner, where the old guy used to be. I poke through it again, but there’s nothing else. He’s totally turned to dust.

I’ve never seen anyone die like that. It’s straight out of an anime.

After some careful searching, a notebook pops out from under the rubble. The one with all the writing from Dr. Keyser that I saw in my visions. Luckily, it’s not damaged. The scribbles inside are really hard, if not impossible, to read, but it’s definitely in English.

Talk about messy handwriting…

I spend a long time trying to decipher the notebook. It’s crammed with experimental data and results.

Apparently, Dr. Keyser was obsessed with this idea of a hidden plane, a higher dimension. He theorized it's folded up in a way we can’t physically perceive or interact with, which, honestly, sounds like someone’s been reading too much sci-fi. He tried a bunch of ways to unfold this dimension, though.

That’s where I was after I died—the afterlife, the higher dimension. So, he wasn't entirely wrong, I guess.

Dr. Keyser found a way to unfold it. With a ton of energy and some seriously complicated machines—most of which are now scrap metal, courtesy of the explosion. This body’s a big part of it, too.

Did he know what was in that dimension? It’s a pretty big question.

This body, designated Vitruvian Artificial Life, or Val for short, is a homunculus he made. But frustratingly, there aren’t any details on how he made it. He just wrote that this was the only body he made that could handle the energy needed for the process.

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My consciousness transferring into this body from the dimension above wasn’t part of the plan.

Oops. That little mistake cost him his life. Talk about unintended consequences.

I spend more time digging through the rubble, but I don’t find anything else useful. Most of the lab books are burnt to a crisp. The few that are left are written in some language I don’t understand. It looks vaguely like chicken scratch mixed with hieroglyphics.

I spend the next few days, or what feels like days, testing and getting used to this body.

It’s like getting used to the controls of a new video game, except instead of playing games, I’m… existing. The tutorial level is definitely over, though.

I can easily lift way bigger and heavier things than I should be able to. My movements and reaction time are crazy fast. I can run super fast and jump crazy distances.

So, super strength and agility. Score.

I also try out some punches and kicks, careful not to accidentally wreck the already half-wrecked lab and bury myself alive.

Wow, this totally makes me an isekai protagonist after all! I wonder if I’ll run into a cute elf girl or a demon lord soon?

Jumping into the lake, I test out more of my body’s perks. Swimming’s a breeze since I don’t need to breathe. My vision underwater is still crystal clear.

It’s like having built-in goggles.

The lake water tastes super salty—I’m guessing it’s seawater. My tongue can feel the coolness of the water, but my body doesn’t register the temperature or pressure. It’s a strange sensation. There’s an opening at the bottom of the lake.

That’s gotta be my way out.

Besides not needing to eat, drink, or breathe, I also don’t need sleep. But I do rest sometimes to get my thoughts organized.

It’s kind of like defragging a hard drive, I suppose.

I try making some better food, but the ingredients taste awful. They must have mostly gone bad. There has to be better food in this world…

I’m craving a burger.

The more I get used to this body, the more trapped I feel. It’s like a shell, a shackle for my consciousness. Extremely powerful, yet cursed armor I can’t take off. I’m starting to think this “isekai adventure” might be a bit more complicated than I initially thought.

The key I found in the bedroom fits the submarine. After checking it out, I practiced driving it a bit. The gas tank seems full, which is a definite plus. I could’ve just swum out, but I want to take some stuff with me, and the sub makes things way easier.

Efficiency is key, after all.

I pack up everything useful—metal card, gold bars, the gun, some cloth, and a little food, just in case. I also fashion a small waterproof metal box from some machine scraps for the notebook. After a quick leak test, I pack everything inside. The gun stays right next to me in the sub, and the dagger’s tied securely to my leg. Safety first!

Standing at the edge of the lake, I glance back at the place that was my… temporary housing, shall we say? It’s time to leave.

Finding a way to break free from this shell is now my top priority. Thoughts buzz through my head as I hop into the sub and sink to the bottom. I spot the cave opening and follow it, driving for what feels like ages. There are even more weird sea creatures down here, but I don’t recognize any of them.

It's like an underwater alien zoo.

Finally, I emerge from the cave, probably smack-dab in the middle of a huge ocean. Slowly, I float to the surface. “Finally!” I yell as the submarine breaks the surface. Taking a deep breath, I look up at the sky and am stunned by what I see.

One thing is certain: I’m definitely not on Earth anymore. This is going to be… interesting.